The European Raw Materials Alliance has announced that it will support Norge Mining’s Norwegian-based sister company Norge Mineraler in the exploration and production of vanadium, phosphate and its subsequent derivative phosphorus, and titanium in Norway. All these raw materials are included in the European Union’s 2020 Critical Raw Materials list, highlighting their strategic importance for a resilient European economy.European production of these materials is critical to lowering the increasing risks associated with imported supply, as well as supporting Europe to achieve its 2050 net zero carbon emissions target. Currently, China produces approximately 59% of the world’s vanadium and 41% of titanium, while 34% of traded phosphate rock is sourced from Morocco, according to the latest EU figures. Before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Russia was the world’s largest supplier of aerospace-grade titanium.Norge Mineraler AS holds 61 exploration licences, totalling more than 520 square kilometres in the Bjerkreim-Sokndal basin, located in southwestern Norway. The area’s large deposits of high-grade raw materials, and the company’s core focus on sustainable and responsible mining, make the project fully aligned with ERMA’s vision, as it will contributes to ensuring reliable, secure, and sustainable access to raw materials as key enablers for a globally competitive, green, and digital Europe.In the coming decades, the transition to green energy will significantly increase the global demand for vanadium, a material that not only is in high demand by the steel industry but also has great potential for sustaining clean technologies. Vanadium batteries provide efficient power storage for renewable energy, such as hydro, wind, and solar. By 2050, there will be a 173% increase in the production of vanadium used in technologies essential to a low-carbon future, according to the World Bank Group report, ‘The Mineral Intensity of the Clean Energy Transition’.Titanium, a strong, lightweight, and extremely resilient raw material, is widely deployed in aerospace, aviation, and automotive manufacturing. Phosphate is not only a key ingredient in fertilisers, which makes it critical to food security of the planet but is also increasingly used in LFP (lithium iron phosphate) batteries for electric vehicles and in the production of white phosphorous, another EU Critical Raw Material.Norway has significant, untapped mineral resources, and the country generates almost 100% of its energy from sustainable sources, reducing the carbon footprint of mining operations to a minimum. Exploration drilling and analytics at Norge Mineraler’s Storeknuten deposit put the estimated mineral resource at almost 1 billion tonnes which represents only about 1.4% of the total volume of at least 70 billion tonnes of Norge Mining’s phosphate rock. While the company will focus on the 410 million tonnes of high-grade minerals, the vast reserves underline the potential for Europe to have a steady and sustainably mined CRM supply for decades to come. The mine is set to begin operation in 2027.
The European Raw Materials Alliance has announced that it will support Norge Mining’s Norwegian-based sister company Norge Mineraler in the exploration and production of vanadium, phosphate and its subsequent derivative phosphorus, and titanium in Norway. All these raw materials are included in the European Union’s 2020 Critical Raw Materials list, highlighting their strategic importance for a resilient European economy.European production of these materials is critical to lowering the increasing risks associated with imported supply, as well as supporting Europe to achieve its 2050 net zero carbon emissions target. Currently, China produces approximately 59% of the world’s vanadium and 41% of titanium, while 34% of traded phosphate rock is sourced from Morocco, according to the latest EU figures. Before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Russia was the world’s largest supplier of aerospace-grade titanium.Norge Mineraler AS holds 61 exploration licences, totalling more than 520 square kilometres in the Bjerkreim-Sokndal basin, located in southwestern Norway. The area’s large deposits of high-grade raw materials, and the company’s core focus on sustainable and responsible mining, make the project fully aligned with ERMA’s vision, as it will contributes to ensuring reliable, secure, and sustainable access to raw materials as key enablers for a globally competitive, green, and digital Europe.In the coming decades, the transition to green energy will significantly increase the global demand for vanadium, a material that not only is in high demand by the steel industry but also has great potential for sustaining clean technologies. Vanadium batteries provide efficient power storage for renewable energy, such as hydro, wind, and solar. By 2050, there will be a 173% increase in the production of vanadium used in technologies essential to a low-carbon future, according to the World Bank Group report, ‘The Mineral Intensity of the Clean Energy Transition’.Titanium, a strong, lightweight, and extremely resilient raw material, is widely deployed in aerospace, aviation, and automotive manufacturing. Phosphate is not only a key ingredient in fertilisers, which makes it critical to food security of the planet but is also increasingly used in LFP (lithium iron phosphate) batteries for electric vehicles and in the production of white phosphorous, another EU Critical Raw Material.Norway has significant, untapped mineral resources, and the country generates almost 100% of its energy from sustainable sources, reducing the carbon footprint of mining operations to a minimum. Exploration drilling and analytics at Norge Mineraler’s Storeknuten deposit put the estimated mineral resource at almost 1 billion tonnes which represents only about 1.4% of the total volume of at least 70 billion tonnes of Norge Mining’s phosphate rock. While the company will focus on the 410 million tonnes of high-grade minerals, the vast reserves underline the potential for Europe to have a steady and sustainably mined CRM supply for decades to come. The mine is set to begin operation in 2027.
